Tile support apparatus



Dec. 10, 1968 G. T. PHILLIPS 3,415,030

TILE SUPPORTAPPARATUS Filed June 14, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. GEORGE E PHILLIPS his ATTORNEYS Dec. 10, 1968 G. "r. PHILLIPS 3,415,030

. TILE SUPPORT APPARATUS Filed June 14, 1966 1 qumr 2Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3

' Munnm INVENTOR. GEORGE TI PHILLIPS his A T TORNEYS United States Patent Oflice 3,415,030 TILE SUPPORT APPARATUS George T. Phillips, Bedford Village, N.Y., assignor t Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 14, 1966, Ser. No. 557,526 Claims. (Cl. 52-493) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A support device for a suspended ceiling system. A support runner consists of a flat base, one perpendicular side and one inclined side. The flat perpendicular side rests against a wall structure and the fiat side and inclined side form a slot structure for receiving tile support splines. The tile support splines have flanges which snap into the slot of the runnner. The splines have a horizontal surface which supports the ceiling tiles, while a flat side perpendicular thereto is adjacent a wall structure.

Dropped ceilings, formed from an array of removable panels, tiles or acoustical tiles supported from hangers, are often found in contemporary buildings. These ceilings are employed, inter alia, to enhance the aesthetic and acoustical qualities of the room in which they are placed. The tiles comprising the aforesaid ceilings are frequently supported by means of a continuous prefabricated assembly structure.

One type of assembly consists of a furring runner having laterally-extending arms or brackets upon which the tiles are mounted. In this respect, I refer to my United States Patent No. 3,058,172, granted Oct. 16, 1962 and to my pending application Ser. No. 375,473, filed June 16, 1964 now Patent No. 3,271,918, both of which illustrate this type of assembly.

In dropped ceilings, it is highly desirable that minimum space exist between the tiles comprising the ceiling and a protrusion such as a beam, wall, ceiling fixture, or the like. Such spaces are undesirable because they tend to reveal support structures for the tiles, thus detracting from the aesthetic quality of the ceiling and otherwise requiring masking. Heretofore, the construction of prior art assemblies was such that certain spaces necessarily appeared between the protrusion and the tile inserted adjacent thereto when the elements of the assemblies abutted protrusions.

It is an object of this invention to eliminate this problem. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a new assembly comprising a furring runner and a bracket, so constructed that when either of them abuts a protrusion, the separation of the tile inserted adjacent the protrusion and the protrusion itself will be so reduced that it would not detract from the aesthetic quality of the ceiling and not require masking.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the following description and to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view in section of an assembly employing the invention showing a tile supported thereon;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a tile support bracket in accordance with the invention; and

FIGURE 3 is a view taken along line 3-3 of FIG- URE 1.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the furring runner comprises a base 12 having edge flanges 13 and 14 and resiliently spaced sidewalls 15 and 16 which converge at their lower portions to define a longitudinal slot 17 extending lengthwise of the runner. The furring runner 10 may be supported from portions of the room in which 3,415,030 Patented Dec. 10, 1968 it is situated by usual support elements A, B, and C, or other means. The sidewall 15 extends downwardly and angularly towards the bottom portion of the sidewall 16. The bottom of the sidewall 15 terminates in an inwardly bent flange 18 and an outwardly bent flange 19. As best seen in the right hand portion of FIGURE 3, it is the portion of the flange 18 adjacent the sidewall 16 which converges with the lower portion of the vertical sidewall 16 to form the longitudinal slot 17.

The sidewall 16 is substantially perpendicular in relation to the base 12 of the furring runner 10. The upper portion of the sidewall 16 which is integrally formed with the base 12 extends downwardly and is contoured to form a recessed receiving channel 11. Extending downwardly from the lower portion of the channel 11 is the remaining portion of the sidewall 16|(a). The remaining portion of the sidewall 16(a) extends downwardly and is bent inwardly and upwardly against itself to form a shoulder 20.

The remaining portion of the sidewall 16(a) lies in substantially the same vertical plane as the periphery of the edge flange 14 below which it resides. The shoulder 20 lies on substantially the same horizontal plane as the uppermost portion of the inwardly bent flange 18.

FIGURE 2 shows a new L-shaped spline 21 comprising a base flange 22 and a vertical flange 23, and at each end an upwardly extending flange 24- which is in transverse relation to the base 22. The flanges 24 are formed on the base and are of a width equal to approximately the combined height of the vertical flange 23 and width of the horizontal base flange 22. Flanges 24 have two detents 25 and 26 equidistant from the vertical flange 23 and above the uppermost portion of said vertical flange 23. Also formed in the flange 24 is a tongue 27 which lies in the same horizontal plane as the top surface of the vertical flange 23. This relationship assures a proper alignment of the splines when they are placed in their corresponding receiving slots 17, as best illustrated by FIGURE 1.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the horizontal base flange 22 is receivable in the horizontal rabbet 28 of the tile 29. Detents 40 may be stamped or similarly formed in the horizontal base to provide a snug fit. The spline 21 is used in conjunction with the runners or bars 10 and a bar to support an edge of the tile 29', adjacent to a ceiling protrusion as shown in FIGURE 1. The edge of the tile or panel, spaced from and parallel with the protrusion, may be supported by a conventional T-spline or a T-spline of the type disclosed in my co-pending application Ser. No. 375,473.

As shown in FIGURE 1, a rabbeted edge 28 of the tile 29 is slipped on the horizontal base 22 of the spline 21 with the vertical flange 23 abutting or close to the protrusion D. The opposite edge of the tile is similarly slidably received on a T-spline of conventional type or the type disclosed in my co-pending application. When so placed the upper half of the edge of the tile or tiles abuts the vertical flange 23 of the L-shaped spline 21.

The detents on the horizontal flanges 40 function to engage in a surface of the rabbeted edge of the tile 29 and retain the tile thereon. Flanges 24 of the L-shaped spline 21 and the opposite edge T-spline are retained thereon and are engaged in the longitudinal slot 17 of the parallel furring runners or bars 10 by means of the detents thereon, for example, the detents 25 and 26 which are disposed above and in engagement with the curved inner flange 18 of sidewall 15 and the shoulder 20 on sidewall 16.

The L-shaped spline 21 can be adjusted along the slot 17 into tight abutment with the protrusion D. This means that when a tile 29 is secured adjacent the protrusion D (as shown in FIG. 1), it is separated from the protrusion by only the width of the vertical flange 23. This spacing is so minimal that it does not detract from the aesthetic quality of the ceiling and does not require masking, or built in flanges on edges of protrusions to cover any gap between protrusions and a tile.

To further facilitate an understanding of the advantages of my invention, reference may also be had to FIG- URE 3. As shown therein, the vertical sidewall 16(a) of the furring runner or bar abuts the protrusion D; tiles 29 which are supported by L-shaped splines 21, remounted at one end on the bar 10 and extending away from the protrusion perpendicular to the bar 10, are separated from the protrusion only by the thickness of the vertical side member 16(a) and consequently only a negligible gap remains between the edge of a tile or tiles and the protrusion D. In prior devices the tile would be separated from the protrusion by a distance at least equal to the width of the flange 19 or one-half the width of the base 12, whichever is the greater. It will be understood that the gap may be entirely eliminated by built in flanges on the ends of the protrusions or by a slight extension of the lower portion of the tile 29, as illustrated by the dotted lines in FIGURE 3.

While a representative embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described for purposes of illustration, various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the principles of this invention. For example, the standard type shoe device may be employed to connect separate furring runners 10. Therefore all such changes and modifications are included within the intended scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A supporting structure comprising a runner having an elongated base with substantially parallel opposite edge flanges, a pair of sidewalls extending from one side of said base, one of said sidewalls being in substantially perpendicular relation to said base of the runner and disposed in a plane which contains the peripheral edge of one of said edge flanges, the other sidewall being resilient and converging outwardly from said base toward the outer end of said one sidewall and defining therebetween a slot.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which said one sidewall includes a channel adjacent to said base.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 in which said one sidewall has an upwardly facing shoulder on its inner side and said other sidewall terminates in an inwardly bent flange.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 comprising a spline having a pair of right-angularly related elongated flanges, one of which is for engaging and supporting the edge of a tile, panel and the like, end flanges perpendicular to and at opposite ends of one of said right-angularly related flanges, each end flange being engageable on a slot in said runner to position said other right-angularly related flange in face-to-face engagement with a protrusion.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 4, wherein said end flanges have abutments thereon to limit the extent of entry of said end flanges into said slots.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,188,021 1/1940 Thompson 52-493 2,478,060 8/1949 Spiess 52-493 3,058,172 10/ 1962 Phillips 52-145 3,271,918 9/1966 Phillips 52-493 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 52 720 

